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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Gunman?Why train me for that?

I got a strange e-mail last night. It was from an organization, of which I am a member telling me that I needed to go online to get training for the eventuality of a gunman attack.

In recent days things have gone absolutely crazy, I must say. To say that you can find classes online to teach you, in your own home what to do if you are attacked by a crazed gunman is pretty ludicrous to me.

I am not anti-gun. I used to shoot in county competitions back in England. My preferred weapon was a over and under shotgun. A Browning to be precise. I could shoot at a clay pigeon shoot all day quite happily.

The problem I have is in the sheer panic of some people. Paying $99 to pay for me to have a class and obtain certification that I know what to do, in case of a crazed lone gunman. I have a pretty good idea what to do. Stay away from him. But as a blind man I know the sheer difficulty of even doing that. Moving around an area, lots of noise, echoes how do we know which way is safe?

So why should I buy into this fear? I must say being blind I have more real fears than being shot.

My fear is real. It doesn't paralyse me. I do go out. My fear is of motorists, not gunmen.

I have had many more close encounters with motor vehicles in myy time here in the United States than I have with crazed gunmen.

Motorists do the silliest things. They drive too fast. Take chances of crossing intersections as the light turns red. They drive down sidewalks to cut into the supermarket parking lot. All to save that vital second.

OK Not all motorists are that bad. Most do stop on red even when turning right to let the blind man and his cute dog cross. But enough don't to scare the sh*t out of me.

So a word to all those in fear of this gunman. Put your fear into perspective. Fear what you know, not what you fear.

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